


A Mutual Rescue

by Thistlerose



Series: Midnight Conversations [18]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, MWPP Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 06:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2013906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in 2003.  James comes to Lily's rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mutual Rescue

She didn't let go of his hand until she was safely over the windowsill, with her bedroom floor firmly beneath her feet. Then she turned to him and smiled.

He smiled back, though she could barely see it for the dawn coming up overpoweringly behind him.

“Thank you,” she said softly. She considered saying more, but decided it could wait; they were both tired and he still had a long way to fly. So, “Thank you,” she said again, laying her hand on the windowsill and wondering detachedly if he would try and take it. What she wanted to say was, _Thank you for coming to get me._

He didn't take her hand because he needed both of his to hold his broom steady; the wind caused his cloak to ripple and billow, and it mussed his hair, giving him the attractively dishevelled look he used to try to achieve when he wanted to impress her. “No worries,” he said, grinning more broadly still; she could _just_ see the glint of his teeth. “I had my summons loud and clear. ‘ _Now, you idiot,_ ' you said. Saved me from an unpleasant scene, too. Remus and Peter and I were helping Sirius move into his new flat. Poor Pete found a box labelled _toys_ and of course he just _had_ to find out what sort of toys our Sirius plays with. It wasn't Gobbstones, I can promise you. Anyway,” he went on tiredly, when he realised he was rambling, “are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Lily said. “I mean, I'll still have to deal with Petunia and her stupid ideas, but she'll have had a night's sleep, and I'll...” _...have had...a midnight ride over England, with my arms around the waist of the future Head Boy and the star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Enough to change one's perspective on a great many things…_ “Thank you,” she a third time and wondered why she couldn't think of anything more intelligent; she'd had plenty to say while they'd been airborne over London. The morning breeze stirred her hair, sent shivers down her neck and shoulders. She shrugged more deeply into her cloak, but she did not remove her hand from the windowsill.

“Well,” said James, “I'd better head back. Make sure no one's torturing Peter. If your sister starts slagging you off again, you know how to reach me.”

He was just going to leave it at that.

“Can I tell you something?” Lily heard herself say, a little wildly.

James, who had already started to turn away, glanced back, his dark eyebrows raised. “Yeah?”

“Can I--um, can you come closer so I can--whisper--”

“Er--” James looked confused, but, “Yeah,” he said and bobbed closer so that their heads were almost level.

“What I mean,” Lily stammered. “That is, what I think I-- Oh, bloody hell.” She bent quickly and kissed his cheek.

“Er,” said James.

“Well,” said Lily, her cheeks burning. “As I was saying--” _In for a Knut, in for a Galleon_ , she thought and kissed him again, this time letting her fingertips wander delicately over his cheek and stubbled jaw. He said not a word as she did this, but she felt his mouth open in a dazed ‘o' and she felt the tension in his arms as he gripped his broomstick more tightly still.

When she pulled away she mumbled, “Thank you,” one last idiotic time. She ran to her bed and sat down hard and for a long moment all she could do was stare at her feet and breathe deeply. When she came to her senses, she ran back to her window, but James had gone from the sill. Disappointed, she was about to turn back when she saw, high over the still-dark roofs, a figure on a broomstick, turning cartwheels in the air.

 

11/19/03


End file.
